Mattg4321

The ‘metal centre’ doesn’t pass all the way through the coiled part of the spring clip. Just squeeze the coiled part together using the screwdriver for leverage and pop the spring clip off the fitting. It’s quite easy when you know how, but I’ve done it quite a few times!

As above, take the springs off. Use a small screwdriver for leverage if necessary. Had to do this a few times myself for various reasons

Doesn’t make a huge difference to electrician if you’re doing it properly imo. 35mm boxes still need chopping in a bit for D&D. You don’t want 25mm boxes - that’s for new build estate s@&£boxes. Same with capping. I always like to fit it even if D&D. Clipping only runs a higher risk of damage from other trades chucking materials around etc.

Our fitter insisted upon two stages of self levelling compound/feather edge on top of the liquid screed

I haven’t. I’ll give it a go though. There’s some great stuff around these days on the newer platforms though. Legacy media is dead imo - total tripe nearly all of it. The lack of understanding of how even a small business functions by those at the top of government is staggering. If they can’t even understand that then what chance do they have with the financial markets. Another set of tax rises in the autumn could be the thing that tips us into a pretty severe financial crisis. Labour have already found out that raising the rate of capital gains tax actually brought them less in tax receipts - will they learn?!

And it sounds like they’ll be coming back with more tax rises in the autumn. I’m genuinely worried for the future of this country. 4 more years of this lot and no prospect of anything much better to vote for. Someone who has actually run a business, rather than a career politician would be nice.

No, as that’s not what the manual says. I’ve just had another look and reminded myself of the relevant settings in the manual. I’m fairly sure they are all set to the below, but I will check them tomorrow. Perhaps the zone isn’t set to activated or something. Not sure why Vaillant make things overly complicated, but also their instructions are not the most intuitive

Outside air temp was 22.5 earlier. Desired (target) temp was 30 inside temp was 23.5 outside air switch off limit changed to 35 Heating set to manual on not sure what else I can do!

There is a connection for an external stat, but it’s linked out already as per the wiring diagram!

Weather compensation curve set to highest possible setting!

No room stat other than the VRC720, which is talking to boiler as all information from boiler available on VRC720 and hot water controlled from VRC720 turns boiler on as expected. Maybe there’s some setting somewhere that means the boiler thinks there another room stat - which there isn’t.

Tried turning off the DHW and also when the DHW is up to temp, still doesn’t turn on the central heating. No radiator symbol on the boiler, valve doesn’t open and S30 status. Yes, it’s a system boiler. Thanks

Does anyone here have any experience with Vaillant boiler controls, specifically VRC720? My parents have just had a new boiler fitted. Ecotec Pure 618 and nobody can seem to get the VRC720 to switch the boiler on when it’s calling for heating. Boiler showing status code s30 - thermostat is blocking heating mode. All connected together with Bus cables as per instructions and everything works as it should including DHW valve opening and boiler firing. It’s wired to a VR66/2 - dial setting 1 for monozone. Also has outside temp sensor and set up as hot water priority. Guessing it may be something to do with outside temp being too high, but changed that setting to 35 degrees c, so it shouldn’t be that stopping thermostat from sending signal to open valve and fire boiler (neither of which are happening) Should be going there again to meet fitter on Monday and probably call technical support, but would like to be armed with suggestions! Cheers

Tapered edge board is fine until you have to join the short edges (which are not tapered) on a ceiling etc

Don't listen to the blind company, they're not electricians and almost certainly clueless. I'd be feeding them all above the bifold from one supply/spur.

Artisan sell whatever they get the best deal to promote imo.

How did they manage to break so many tiles? No eaves protection felt/eaves tray. Breathable membrane isn’t UV stable and should not be visible. I’m no roofer, but I wouldn’t be happy. I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon to comment further

Rewires are the hardest graft any sparky is likely to do imo. The only bonus here is the place is empty. Lived in rewires are just grim.

Have you ever rewired a house, in particular a period property? It does depend on the details though. We have no idea of how many points there are, whether the walls need to be chased out and made good, whether there is even a decent void in the floor (sometimes the ceiling is located almost directly under the floorboards in old properties, with joists on show below). We also don’t know if there are carpets to lift or even any furniture in the property although it’s empty. If you’re unsure though, surely it’s worth getting another quote?

You’re assuming only 1 man on the job if I’m interpreting 20 working days as the timescale to complete the job. Personally I very much doubt that 1 guy will complete, what sounds like a substantial job, by himself, in 20 days. Is £21.5k including vat? Sounds like roughly what I would expect, but far more information needed.

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a meter box internally. They’ve just been mounted to a board fixed to the wall as they always used to be. I’ve even seen a whole estate where they were in the middle of a house in the hall cupboard. Not sure how they got away with that. Probably built 5-10 years ago now. As above though, an external kiosk might be the cheapest and best option overall if it saves moving it later.

I’ll bet they probably won’t. Hopefully you’ll have nothing to worry about, but if you do, then nothing you do or say will make any difference anyway. If the PO has recommended for approval then it should be approved. If it isn’t then it will be at appeal by the planning inspectorate. We had a very similar case about 10 years ago. Refused by a committee made up of only one political party. One of the objectors knew one of them. They refused on the night without giving a reason why. Said it would be in the report or something. Made the PO come up with a reason (out of character). Yes the same officer who recommended it for approval. This same officer had to justify to the planning inspectorate why it should be refused (after earlier supporting it). Of course they lost and nearly had to pay us compensation. Yes, I’m still a bit bitter about it, but I got some pleasure out of smiling at the objector who caused all the problems every time I saw him afterwards - which was very few!

I’ve seen quite a few recent builds with cutout internally, although I know the DNO (UKPN) prefers external meter box. Sorry I can’t help more than to say that.

Along comes yet another story to reiterate the point. Little wonder people are voting Reform to see if they will do anything different to the other parties already tried when taxpayers money is so blatantly wasted. £800M budget!!! Yet no money for winter fuel/hospitals/roads/schools etc etc https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/08/secretive-quango-dim-sun-fight-global-warming/ I also read somewhere, I forget where, someone did an opinion poll and found something like 60% of people thought cost of living more important than net zero with only 15% the other way. Sounds very believable to me.

"The only way to get cheaper electricity is to move away from fossil fuels" Just because they keep repeating something ad infinitum doesn't make it true! Nuclear is more expensive than FF and renewables don't currently and may not ever be able to work independently of FF and further can't be relied upon to generate 24/7. You can keep adding wind and solar, but it comes to a situation where it's completely pointless as you still need something for when those renewables are not generating. Germany have added a large amount of wind generation in the last year, yet the amount of generation decreased significantly between 2024 and 2025... because it wasn't windy. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/weak-winds-eat-generation-capacity-gains-germanys-renewable-fleet-early-2025#:~:text=Renewables-,Clean Energy Wire,research institute ZSW have shown.